The Best 10 RPGs of all time!

[alias]

Morrowind
Morrowind
Morrowind
Morrowind
Morrowind
Morrowind
Morrowind
Morrowind
Morrowind
Geneforge

[sirdilznik]

1) Planescape: Torment
2) Baldur's Gate II
3) Final Fantasy VI
4) Fallout II
5) TES III: Morrowind
6) Chrono Trigger
7) The Witcher (How in the world has this not been mentioned yet?)
8] Seiken Densetsu III (ditto)
9 ) Ultima VII
10) Baldur's Gate

Honorable mentions: The Bard's Tale II, Gothic II, Deus Ex, Fallout, TES IV: Oblivion, Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, Mass Effect II, Eschalon: Book I, Eye Of The Beholder II, Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic, Phantasy Star IV: The End Of the Millenium, Risen.

[Evnissyen]

I really wish I could add my own really critical and comprehensive list to this discussion; unfortunately my gaming experience is limited, largely due to my previous lack of access . . . not to mention less interest in the past than I have now . . . still not sure if my increased interest in CRPG's is a good or bad thing, but I think it's the latter.

...But lack of access and exposure is about to change soon!

...So give me a few months or so and I'll put up a better list than the one I'm about to give . . . if this thread lasts so long.

Once my new computer arrives I've the following two games to go through:

Neverwinter Nights 2 Gold (Includes Mask of the Betrayer) (Yes, I do already own the Mac copy. I reordered it for PC so I could play it at normal speed and with full graphics/animation capability... as it was meant to be played. Even though I've had this game for my Mac for maybe about a year, now: I'm still hooked on it. And I'm eager to play MotB, too.)

The Witcher (the new "enhanced" edition). Also can't wait to start in on this. Hard to put this on hold while I dig into NWN2 again, but... NWN2/MotB has to come first.

After these, I'm looking forward to the following games (in this order, I think):

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Dragon Age: Origins (It's $43 now, it should be down to $35 when I get around to it, I reckon so, along with patches)
Fallout 3 (True: that Fallout (I think it was the original) demo didn't interest me much when I played it 2 or 3 years ago, but I want to give the series another go, and #3 seems the right place to start.)
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Jade Empire

...and there are a few adventure games I'm looking at, too, but then... we're talking RPG's.

...all these in addition to the upcoming Eschalon Book 2, of course -- that'll cleanly interrupt my MotB and Witcher foray -- and probably Age of Decadence when it finally comes out, that game does look good . . . and maybe I'll get back into Baldur's Gate at some point.

But for the moment, my list, RPG only, would probably include the following :

1. Planescape: Torment (brilliant writing, daringly original plot and refreshing gameplay approach)
2. Neverwinter Nights 2 (relatively well written, nicely designed and fun fun fun!)
3. Geneforge 4 (No, not 5, because #5 was prohibitively difficult and thus was not fun . . . there were really only two character types that were reliably capable of getting beyond the 2/3 mark, in #5: the Sorceress (strongest) and the Lifecrafter (second strongest).)
4. Avernum 6 (best written of the Avernum series, and the best designed and best-drawn Spiderweb game so far . . . but Geneforge just barely beats it, I think, because Geneforge's storyline is more original and, to me, has always been more interesting.)
5. Avernum 5
6. Eschalon Book 1
7. Geneforge 3 & Avernum 4 (tied)
8. Neverwinter Nights
9. The Faery Tale Adventure (The Mac rewrite. not the DOS version. The Mac version had -- for the time -- real-sounding harpsicord music, not just tonal blips, plus the graphics were light-years better . . . I really wish I still had a copy of this, or could find it, it's nowhere to be found anywhere on the internet.)
10. Not sure . . . Quarterstaff, maybe? Or Wizardry (original), or maybe Moebius? (Again: the Mac rewrites, not the original DOS versions.).

...I think that's it . . . for now.

[CrazyBernie]

9. The Faery Tale Adventure (The Mac rewrite. not the DOS version. The Mac version had -- for the time -- real-sounding harpsicord music, not just tonal blips, plus the graphics were light-years better . . . I really wish I still had a copy of this, or could find it, it's nowhere to be found anywhere on the internet.)

According to wikipedia, the Mac port never made it past beta. The Macintosh platform was considered too expensive as a gaming system and the port was abandoned.
The sequel, however, is also considered a remake, and certainly looks much better, although the abandonware download is sans music.

[stelegrey]

I'm admittedly not much of an RPG player in general, and as such my list ends at a top eight, as all other RPGs I've played don't honestly deserve a spot in my top 10.

Also I'm not including "tactical RPGs" in the list because they're really just turn-based strategy games with a story.


1) Wasteland (high five, Saxon1974 )
2) Siege of Avalon
3) Nethack
4) Mount&Blade
5) Eschalon: Book 1
6) Chrono Cross
7) Fallout (only the first one)
8 ) Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past

[BehindTimes]

Hmm, kind of tough.

The obvious 3 first, but not sure after that...

1) Ultima 7: The Black Gate (Best CRPG ever by a long shot imho. I won't include Serpents Isle in this list. I'll only choose 1 game per series)
2) Betrayel at Krondor
3) Wizardry VII

Now this is where it gets tough. The rest are in no particular order.

Planescape Torment
Magic Candle 2
Faery Tale Adventure 2
Divine Divinity
Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny
Albion

10) Alright, I'll through in a JRPG, but this is definately below the first 9 (I just am not a big fan of them). Tough choosing between Suikoden, Lufia 1, Lunar Silvar Star, or Final Fantasy IV. I'm going with LSS I think.

[Evnissyen]

According to wikipedia, the Mac port never made it past beta. The Macintosh platform was considered too expensive as a gaming system and the port was abandoned.
The sequel, however, is also considered a remake, and certainly looks much better, although the abandonware download is sans music.

Grr... . Are you suggesting I'm either lying or that I didn't know what game I was playing? Honestly: It was the original, not the sequel. (It opens up in a town called Tambry and ends in the middle of outer space or something, trying to negotiate platforms without falling off into the void.) After checking out the Wiki article, however, it looks like I was playing a crack of the beta, not of the actual game.

But I don't even recall any bugs (except for the fact that the game didn't seem to have an ending. (I just found out the ending only recently, long after the game became corrupted and therefore unplayable, so I cannot check.) I just remember wandering all around the world looking for something I'd failed to complete, and I'd completed everything... except for that Platforms-in-Space part, which baffled me.

The article says: "The Macintosh port was never released, but a working beta was completed before the development was cancelled." (sic) ...Why cancel development once the development is [apparently] complete? Isn't it a little late, by then?

Strange.

[sirdilznik]

I see the Avernum & Geneforge games getting lots of love here. I'm embarrassed to say I've never played any of the Exile/Avernum or Geneforge games. That's something I'm going to have to rectify especially since I care much more about story & depth rather than fancy graphics/effects.

[Saxon1974]

I see the Avernum & Geneforge games getting lots of love here. I'm embarrassed to say I've never played any of the Exile/Avernum or Geneforge games. That's something I'm going to have to rectify especially since I care much more about story & depth rather than fancy graphics/effects.

They are pretty good games, but I wouldnt put them anywhere near my top 20 games all time. They have pretty good stories and decent turn based combat and a pretty interesting world to explore. I like them but the production values are pretty low, much lower than Eschalon.

Im not a graphics whore but I cant stand the lack of walking animation and blocky walls in the Avernum games.

This being said you can download a demo and check it out before you purchase. Im not saying they aint worth the purchase just that Im suprised anymore would put them in a top 10 list for all time RPG's....then again thats my opinion.

[Charles-cgr]

Wasteland!

Saxon, we have so much in common we should have a beer someday

I almost entirely positive I cannot fill a top 10 list. Good for me, plenty out there to discover!

1. MMII
2. MMI
3. Wasteland - long live sister wrath!
4. Diablo I
5. Ultima V
6. MMVI
7. World of Warcraft counts? Got a lvl 80 mage I parked a year ago to dedicate more time to UW dev. The most fun I had with Wow were the IRL meetings with guild pals though.
8. Just started tinkering with Avernum 6
... I'm pretty sure that's it. Except for UW of course, but I'm too biased to rank it objectively

Edit - I forgot Baldur's Gate II and Champions of Krynn!! Both somewhere in the middle.

[Krafen]

In no particular, my 10 favorite RPGs.

Wasteland
Pool of Radiance (Gold Box)
Planescape: Torment
Arcanum
Starflight
Secret of Mana
Fallout (1,2)
Deus Ex
Might & Magic VI
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Starflight and Deus Ex stretch the definition a bit, but the both had RPG elements and had engaging stories.

[iamrichard]

PC games

1 - Fallout 2
2 - Arcanum
3 - Baldursgate 2
4 - Morrowind, elderscrolls.
5 - Planescape: Torment
6 - Quest for glory
7 - Avernum 6
8 - Deus ex 1
9 - The witcher
10 - Eschalon: Book 1

[cal1s]

No order:

Eye of the Beholder I
Eye of the Beholder II
Neverwinter Nights + XP1 & XP2
Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate II
Morrowind
Oblivion
Dragon Age: Origins
Eschalon II (so far)
The Witcher

[frogbeard]

With the exception of #1, in no particular order -and is more a "10 favorite of all time" list:

(1) Ultima IV. Probably because I was playing on my C64 as an impressionable young teenager, I remember attaching the metal ankh that came with the game to my keychain, and making a conscious effort to make better moral decisions in real life, and follow the tenets of the game...(there were 8 virtues, right? That was a long time ago...)

others..
Morrowind
Baldur's Gate 2
Telengard (rather simplistic, but another C64 game, one of the few things that took my attention away from Infocom games.)
Gothic 2/NotR (has noone else mentioned this?)
LotRO (MMO, I know, but sank quite a bit of time in it before parking to wait for the next expansion)
Temple of Elemental Evil (once all the patches fixed the bugs)
Neverwinter Nights series
Arcanum
Sacred/Titan Quest/Diablo 2 (a nod to the ARPG/RPG-lite genre, quite fun in their own way)

Haven't played The Witcher or I'm sure it would make it.
Dragon Age: Origins gets left off because I find the combat very tedious and non-fun.
Is Daggerfall still available anywhere?

Eschalon I and II are in my top 20!

[Travis12345]

Yeah you can get Daggerfall for free at Bethesda's website. As for my top 10 hmmm.....

In no particular order.

Ultima 4
Morrowwind
Pool of Radiance the original mind you
Daggerfall
Baldurs gate 1
Baldurs gate 2
Eschlon book 1
Mass Effect: I Know don't shoot me I don't understand why I like it either I'm having alot of fun with it I'm not sure why
Ultima 7
Might and Magic 2

I'm sure book 2 will be in there but i have not played it yet